Former Jeopardy! Champ Says Show Should Limit Consecutive Wins

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Former Jeopardy! Champ Says Show Should Limit Consecutive Wins: ‘Might as Well Move the Show to Vegas’

Is it time for Jeopardy! to change its format?

Former Jeopardy! champion Tom Nichols is the latest to say the trivia show needs to limit consecutive wins. In a conversation with Boston Public Radio, he shared how the game’s rules make it more difficult for new players to win, or make a name for themselves.

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“After about two or three wins, I think you’ve got such an advantage. You’ve been using the buzzer, — which is much more important than people realize; you’re a lot more comfortable in the studio; you understand the rhythm of the game,” Nichols explained.

“Newer people just walking in there don’t really have much of a chance, and that’s purely because the returning champions have mastered the mechanics of the game,” he claimed.

Amy Schneider Credit: courtesy jeopardy inc.

Nichols’ comments come as viewers have been watching Amy Schneider, the woman with the most consecutive game wins of all time, on a historic winning streak. So far, she’s won 38 games and $1,307,200, making her the 5th highest earner on Jeopardy! ever.

Nichols’ point outlined the old Jeopardy! rules, which made people “retire” from the game after five wins. “If you’ve done that for eight, nine, 10 games, there’s a reason they used to retire you,” he said. “But the ratings are up, and people want to treat it like a sport and professionalize it. You might as well move the show to Vegas.”

The former Jeopardy! contestant first appeared on the show in 1994. At the time, he won four games and lost his fifth, though he was invited back when the series confirmed he was actually right about an answer that Jeopardy! had determined to be wrong. Nichols went on to win the redo of his fifth game, according to the Jeopardy! archives.

Conversations on Twitter also echoed Nichols’ point. While many longtime viewers claim to find the current format tired, others questioned the timing of the complaints.

If You Want to Compete on ‘Jeopardy!’, You’d Better Really Know Your Stuff

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Knowing as much as you need to know for any game of Jeopardy! seems like a daunting task. The categories in one episode alone can range from anything from art history to different Pokémon generations. General knowledge of just about anything is crucial, and even longtime reigning champs can get tripped up by the categories.

Amidst her hot streak, contestant Amy Schneider has had trouble trying to get a handle on certain categories.

‘Jeopardy!’ champ Amy Schneider on trans representation, next Tournament of Champions

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Amy Schneider, the winningest woman in “Jeopardy!” history, opened up to “Good Morning America” Monday about her experience on the quiz show.Schneider, who is currently tied with Matt Amodio with the second-longest winning streak in “Jeopardy!” history, spoke to George Stephanopoulos, who was a guest host in July 2021, about the best advice she received from host and fellow champ Ken Jennings, her buzzer technique and if she is looking forward to the next Tournament of Champions.Scroll down for Schneider’s Q&A with “GMA”:: You are in the zone. What’s the secret?: I’m not really sure about a lot of it; I never expected to do this well, but I think the main secret is just being curious and spending my life learning a lot of stuff.: You say you never expected this, but when you were young you were voted “most likely to be on ‘Jeopardy!’” Tell us about that.: Yeah, I mean, I was good in school. I got good grades, I won the spelling bee. So yeah, I definitely – I did expect to be on “Jeopardy!” and to do all right, just never expected to do it quite this well.: If you get past the record today, only Ken Jennings is ahead of you. Has he given you any advice?: He’s limited in what he can tell me just because he’s the host. He has to stay neutral and whatever. The advice he gives all of us before every game is just to relax and have fun and enjoy the moment. That’s definitely something I’ve been trying to do.: Trying?: Oh, I’ve been enjoying it. Let me be clear, yes.: But it’s so intense. Tell us about your buzzer technique.: I practiced at home with a ball-point pen but you don’t really know until you get there. The sort-of strategy I had in mind, the way I was planning to time it, like that first game, it wasn’t quite working as well as it needed to. For whatever reason I decided to throw that out and stop thinking about it and purely try to go on instinct and feel. From then on I’ve just been really good at the buzzer. I didn’t know if that would be the case and I’m pretty excited it has been.: Were you prepared for being so famous?: No, not really. There’s a bit of a gap between the taping and the airing, so I did have some time to like get used to the idea. I didn’t really know what it would be or how famous is “Jeopardy!” famous. So it’s been a lot, but it’s mostly been just really fun.: What’s been the best part of the experience?: I think that the best part for me has been being on TV, you know, as my true self, expressing myself and representing the entire community of trans people and … just being, you know, a smart, confident woman and doing something super normal like being on “Jeopardy!”: You’re doing it so well. Regardless of today’s outcome, you’ll be playing in the next Tournament of Champions. Bet you’re looking forward to that.: Oh, I’m definitely looking forward to it. I’m also a little bit intimidated by it. When I first started I wasn’t sure if I might be going up against Matt Amodio and I was really hoping I wouldn’t. And now it turns out I’m going to have to anyway. It’s going to be really challenging; a lot of strong players there, but it should be a lot of fun.: Well you’ve made your mark. Do you know what’s next for you?: I’m not sure, but I’m thinking about it. I’m like, you know, considering do I want to write a book? What other opportunities might be out there? I’m exploring that.: Everything has changed for you, hasn’t it?: It has.

New Orleans teacher goes on ‘Jeopardy!’, gets crushed by champion, loves it anyway

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For Dimitri Apessos, a WWOZ disc jockey and eighth grade mathematics teacher in New Orleans, appearing on the “Jeopardy!” game show on Wednesday was a dream come true. Even if his wardrobe choices had been called into question. Even if it seemed to be all over in the blink of an eye. And even if he came in third among three contestants, and won the absolute minimum amount of money possible, a $1,000 consolation prize.

It was still the thrill of a lifetime. After all, Apessos had watched the television show “religiously” since he was a kid, and had regularly applied to be a contestant for, like, 12 years, filling out the 50-question form time and time again with no success.

Finally, last year, out of the blue, he got the “golden email” apprising him that he’d made the first cut. Then, he passed the second and third rounds, too. It was like something out of “Slumdog Millionaire,” he said: The answers popped into his mind like magic.

The next thing he knew, he was jetting to Los Angeles to record an episode, maybe two - however many he would manage to win.

For those readers who, like most of Apessos’ 13-year-old students, have never heard of “Jeopardy!”, it’s a nightly televised trivia contest that comes on in New Orleans at about dinnertime. Most viewers can’t keep pace with the brainiac contestants, who somehow know what lies west of Uzbekistan, and if an echidna lays eggs or delivers live offspring and who is referred to as the Goddess of Pop. Stuff like that, only sometimes harder.

One of the charming challenges of the game is that the answers must be stated as questions. Like, the host might say “This U.S. president, popularly known as LBJ, was in the White House in 1964, when Jeopardy! first aired.” And the smarty pants contestant correctly answers, “Who was Lyndon Baines Johnson?”

The winning contestant gets to return the next night, accumulating thousands of dollars of winnings as he or she progresses. Only the top dog gets to take home the winnings, however.

Apessos said the show records several episodes back to back, so contestants are supposed to bring lots of changes of clothes. Apessos, who lives in Faubourg Marigny, took “sweaterish” fall garments that he thought were seasonally fashionable. To his chagrin, the show’s wardrobe dude said his clothing made him look like an “unmade bed.”

Then there was the Vicks VapoRub. Apessos had blown out his voice trying to teach his students the Pythagorean theorem or some such incomprehensible math thing. He had a scratchy throat, so he applied some of the aromatic ointment, which left oil stains on his shirts.

In the end, he only had one TV-suitable outfit, a black shirt and black blazer that made him look sharp but a little dour, like Johnny Cash.

Sadly, it didn’t matter that he only had one outfit, because he wouldn’t need a second.

Apessos is 44 years old. He was born in Greece and made his way to New Orleans 22 years ago, with in-between stops in New York City and elsewhere. In addition to trying to impress tweens at Morris Jeff Community School with the importance of balancing equations, he hosts a Sunday music show on ‘OZ, where he curried familiarity by calling himself Your Cousin Dimitiri. He spins samples of splintery acoustic blues, croaking folk songs, country when it was really country and all sorts of retro Americana. He’s been doing it for more than a decade and has a following.

He’s a smart guy, a lifelong information magnet, charming and quick - a perfect “Jeopardy!” contestant.

Still, he was doomed. As he sat in the makeup chair before his appearance, a crew member announced he would be facing Amy Schneider, who had already won 35 consecutive episodes and banked more than a million bucks.

She was the Red Baron; he was Snoopy. She was Cassius Clay; he was Sonny Liston. She was the iceberg; he was the Titanic. By the time the “Final Jeopardy!” round arrived, the contest wasn’t even close. Apessos had accumulated $6,200, corporate lawyer Ashley Chow had $6,800 … and Schneider had $32,800.

As Apessos watched the episode in solitude Wednesday, his memory of the defeat mellowed. He might have gotten crushed, but he did answer all the questions in one category: “How Are We Even Related.” That’s something.

He fondly recalled that the members of the “Jeopardy!” crew were everything he’d hoped they would be: serious, conscientious and kind. Except maybe the wardrobe dude. Plus, his appearance had been an auspicious occasion: It was the anniversary of legendary “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek’s death, which everyone treated with due solemnity.

And, he thought, if you have to get steamrolled, why not get steamrolled by one of the winningest champions ever, right?

“It was really kind of wonderful,” Apessos said. And after the airing, he said, some of his students expressed admiration. “They said, ‘I saw you on television, I watched you with my grandma.’”

‘Jeopardy!’: Former Champ Matt Amodio Was More Concerned About Stage Fright Than the Quiz Board

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Jeopardy! is featuring a string of repeat winners in season 38. Quiz whiz Matt Amodio kicked the season off and charmed viewers with his amiable persona during his 38-game streak. The Ph.D. student admitted to being an introvert and even hesitated on trying out for the quiz show due to potential stage fright.

Former ‘Jeopardy!’ champ Matt Amodio | Paula Lobo/ABC via Getty Images

‘Jeopardy!’ has a tough audition process

Amodio spoke of the steps required to take in order to qualify as a Jeopardy! contestant, which involved more than just a high IQ.

“The process of getting on the show, it’s multi-staged,” he told Cleveland CBS affiliate WOIO in October 2021, as reported by Newsweek. “There are auditions that you have to do and at each point, you not only have to answer questions right but there are people evaluating you for personality.”

While he was confident in his knowledge base, the Ohio native felt he lacked the vivacity needed to be an engaging television personality.

“I’m a very introverted person,” Amodio shared. “I was more worried about seeming interesting enough to get on the show than I was about the actual questions.”

RELATED: ‘Jeopardy!’ Champion Matt Amodio Has ‘1 Real Regret’ During His Winning Streak

Matt Amodio didn’t want to freeze on camera

Amodio admitted he didn’t have any prior stage or entertainment credentials, and his lack of on-camera experience added to his concerns.

“I’ve never performed,” he remarked. “I’ve never been in theater or sung or played music in front of people, so I was really worried that I would have stage fright – forget my name, forget what the capital of Ohio is if they asked me.”

Despite his hesitation over screen time, Amodio made a name for himself on social media and racked up over 54K followers on Twitter thanks to his Jeopardy! fame.

“I’m still calling myself an introverted person, even though I’m now sharing my thoughts to all of these people on Twitter,” Amodio said. “I’m surprised how much I’m enjoying it. So maybe I’m not as introverted as I thought, and maybe it just takes a little bit to give people a push and they’ll enjoy it too.”

‘Jeopardy!’ champ loves his new title

Amodio will return for Jeopardy!’s Tournament of Champions later this year, and he’s psyching himself up for the challenge.

“In the Tournament of Champions, you’ve filtered it so that you only get people who have won at least five games of Jeopardy,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “That’s going to be a more competitive stage than I’m prepared for mentally. So I’m quite worried about that. Hopefully I’ll do well, but I’ll be shaking in my boots a little bit.

With over $1.5 million in winnings and second place for most consecutive wins (which may soon be broken by current champ Amy Schneider), Amodio is more focused on the Jeopardy! title that he now possesses.

“The idea of just saying ‘Jeopardy! champion’,” he explained. “Once I won once, they call you a Jeopardy champion, and that moniker stays with me forever. I’ll try not to correct people too often when they address me as ‘Matt Amodio’ and say, ‘That’s Jeopardy champion Matt Amodio to you.’ But I’ll know that that always applies, and that’s just a tremendous source of pride for me.”

RELATED: ‘Jeopardy!’: Is Matt Amodio Married?